Dáil debates

Thursday, 13 April 2017

12:05 pm

Photo of Louise O'ReillyLouise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In January, the numbers on trolleys hit a record level. The Government is fond of setting records. Unfortunately, none of them is very good or useful. The Tánaiste paints a rosy picture of all the things she would like to do and all the developments she says are happening. Would she like to go down to any of the 409 people waiting on trolleys today and tell them about her great plan because they cannot see it? I have already said that what the Government is doing is not working. It is clear there is a crisis in our health service yet the Members opposite seem to be more interested in the next leader of their party. The Tánaiste's eye is off the ball and her Government is letting down the 650,000 people who are on waiting lists.

The Government is letting down the 9,400 people who were waiting on trolleys in March. The Tánaiste cannot spin this as a good news story because it is not so she should not pat herself on the back for the Government's so-called achievements because it has achieved record numbers on trolleys. I again ask the Tánaiste whether the Government will commit to reopening beds, investing in primary care and recruiting the necessary staff. By that, I mean actually recruiting staff because between December 2016 and January 2017, the system lost 168 nurses. The Government's recruitment plan is not working.

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